Surviving the Heat

Living in a hot climate takes some getting used to. Upon arriving the of November last year, we were pleasantly surprised with the temperatures, remarking that it was not as uncomfortably hot as we expected. Of course, last year happened to be a record cool season in Bangkok. We were happy to escape the freezing temperatures of Indiana and miss the snowstorms that hit the region last year. This year, the kids would all be very happy to see some snow, and I would enjoy snuggling in a favorite sweatshirt and blanket to read and drink hot cocoa. Instead, I relax in the coolness of 79 degrees and dwell on the features of living somewhere that is never cold.

I don't feel like we have gotten used to the heat, although I'm sure we have acclimatized to some extent. Rather, I think we have become resigned to being hot. Most days, I am hot nearly all day. The only days not like this are water park days, but even then, I'm hot on the trip there and on the way home. On some of the most unbearable days, I put on a t-shirt over two piece swimsuit and soaked myself with the hose before making supper. I would be dry, and so would the concrete floor of the outdoor kitchen, before I finished chopping vegetables. One evening last weekend, I noted to Philip that I had not been hot all day. I should have looked up the temperatures for that day, but the high was probably low 90's and had gotten down to low 80's in the evening. Although the (relatively) cooler temperatures contributed some to my not being hot, the main reason had to so with the fact that I had sat in front of a fan most of the day. It was a Pizza Company night, so I had not cooked at all; I had not had to hang laundry that particular day; and we had not gone anywhere, so I hadn't had the extra heat of carrying Simeon in the baby-carrier.

When at all possible, we live with fans pointed at us. It makes the heat bearable and reduces sweating. We have learned some lessons about living with fans. First of all, turn the fan off rotate before refilling the flour or sugar container, unless of course, you desire a fan dusting throughout your kitchen. When making tortillas, kneading dough, or some other activity that requires a floured surface, I have decided that flour on the floor is worth not adding large quantities of salt in the form of sweat to the food. I point the fan away from the main floured area but where I can still receive a good amount of airflow. Another lessons is turn off the fan before lighting birthday candles. We had to relight candles for the first couple birthdays of the season before we started remembering to do this first. Third, beware of flying paper. During school, we always have a bunch of items available for weighing down the corners of workbooks and papers. Many times, we look for a paper we knew was there a moment ago, only to see Simeon delightedly crumpling it or, worse, tearing it to pieces. The girls usually just turn off the fan before starting a craft project. The pages of most books I read are not susceptible to being blown by the fan, but I have to be careful with the angle I hold my Bible in relation to the fan.

Our children used to wear clothes nearly all the time except for during baths. Now it's common to see a naked or nearly naked Cardin running through the house or garden. We've made a rule that they have to wear clothes to go out the gates, so as not to shock our neighbors, and for meals. It would be great if this meant less laundry but instead it tends to generate more. Hollis wakes up in the morning, often without clothes on. She took off her pajamas in the night because she got too hot. These pajamas need to be washed because they are too sweaty to wear again. She gets dressed before breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, she goes outside to play. By the time she comes back inside, she is topless. She is supposed to only shed clothes in the house so they don't get left in the yard and forgotten about until they are starting to decompose. I remind her of this and tell her to go get her shirt from outside. She puts on a dress before she goes outside again. A little while later, she asks if she can play in the water. I say yes, so she takes all her clothes off and runs to play in the water. When she comes back inside, she is "cold" and puts on a whole new set of clothes. If I catch her in time, I make her put the other ones on instead. By the end of the day, there is a whole pile of clothes that are not that dirty but not clean enough to be put away. If I try to save them out to wear another day, we often forget and it just make the house look more cluttered than it is already. So I just do lots of laundry.

Since Simeon cannot dress himself, he does end up wearing fewer clothes. A couple nights ago, I decided to put a shirt on him for bed since I thought he might have gotten a little too cool the night before. He was already for bed, wanting to snuggle and nurse. When I put the shirt on him, he got a big grin on his face and headed for the door. I realized, for him, putting a shirt on means going somewhere; usually, he's just in a diaper and maybe shorts to protect the cover.

The girls became attached to their blankets when we lived in a cooler climate and with central air conditioning. They still want to sleep with them on every night. Meriel especially likes to snuggle with her blanket whenever she gets hurt, in trouble, or sleepy. Hollis will often fall asleep for a nap completely wrapped up in her blanket. If we had been able to look into the future, maybe we could have guided the girls toward lightweight blankets. By the time we packed for Thailand, their favorites were set and had to be brought. Simeon has a very nice soft blanket that is stored in a cupboard. It may get cool enough to get it out for a few weeks. I doubt his security object will ever be a blanket.

While we don't completely abstain from soups and chili, we certainly don't get the satisfaction out of such foods that we would if we were eating them on a cool autumn evening or after an afternoon of romping in the snow. I have plans for hot cocoa and warm homemade vanilla pudding on the first night feels "cold" to our heat-adjusted minds. We might have to take a cold shower first to get the full effect. I really hope that I can wear my hooded sweatshirt once this season. Maybe some night, we'll shut up the bedroom doors, turn on the air condition full blast, and pretend it's winter. After we open the doors and windows, we'll be happy to shed our sweatshirts and be thankful that we don't have to shovel snow.